Pre-snap motion from any defense in football has always been a definitive advantage when facing off against an equally talented offense.
The ability to disguise coverages and keep opposing offenses from knowing who’s attacking and where that attack is coming from is what playing solid defense is all about.
The art of disguise is extremely valuable to the success and execution of any defense.
But, even more important, is having the right players to operate that disguise correctly without making mistakes.
Oregon has a variety of those players, namely Kayvon Thibodeaux, Noah Sewell, MyKael Wright, Bennett Williams, Mase Funa and D.J Johnson just to name a few.
But, arguably, there’s really no one more important to the Ducks defense than safety Verone McKinley III.
His ability to disguise coverages and confuse opposing quarterbacks has been nothing short of exemplary this season.
McKinley leads the team in interceptions with 4, and grabbed 2 in a single game against Stony Brook.
McKinley has gotten extremely proficient at the art of theft in the game of football.
It’s for that single reason, the Ducks remain undefeated.
“For me, I do everything” explained McKinley III on Tuesday.
“I cover slot receivers, I cover tight ends, I blitz,…I play in the box, I play single high. So just being a defense where we’re multiple, we have different sets, different personnel,…and the ability for me to go ahead and blitz always keeps people on their toes,…because you don’t know whether if I’m blitzing, Noah’s blitzing, Bennett’s blitzing,…we may have MyKael blitz.
Everybody on the defense has to know how to blitz. It keeps defenses on their toes,…and you don’t know when it can come. Coach DeRuyter is doing a great job of play-calling and understanding the situation and us applying it to what’s going on.”
So far this Oregon defense is a plus 12 in the turnover category. The Ducks have intercepted opposing quarterbacks 9 times and recovered 4 fumbles. The Ducks offense has only turned the ball over one time – a lost fumble.
Key turnovers at critical points in the game have been the calling card of this Oregon defense in the first four games.
“We’ve done a great job,…we’re not complacent,” said McKinleyy III.
“We feel we still haven’t played our best football. We haven’t been consistent enough and we feel we need to continue getting better. Guys come in every week – we come in Sunday and say alright what did we do wrong, how can we correct it and we get ready for the next week.
And that mentality has been the same thing. Everybody hears the 1 and 0 and thinks it’s just a mantra, but it really means something. We want to be 1 and 0 in everything we do, from how we prepare to how we take care of our bodies, to game-day. So putting that all together and just understanding that we’re not a finished product is super big and us continuing to get better.”
WATCH SAFETY VERONE MCKINLEY III DISCUSS STANFORD AND GAME PREPARATION